Explanation
BACKGROUND: This legislation authorizes the Director of Development to enter into multiple grant agreements to provide rental and utility assistance using federal Emergency Rental Assistance 2 funds and providing for expenses starting January 1, 2021. The organizations included in this ordinance shall be a “subrecipient” as defined under federal guidelines.
Ordinance 2275-2021 authorizes the City of Columbus to accept and appropriate $12,774,607.20 of federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA 2) program funds, as passed by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. Of this amount, $1,500,000.00 will be used for three agreements with organizations to provide rental and utility assistance (as defined by U. S. Treasury) to qualifying residents of the local community to ensure housing stability.
In July 2021, the Department of Development issued a Notice of Award (NOFA) to solicit responses from community organization who could provide these federal grant funds to hard to reach communities. Twenty-six organizations have been selected to receive these funds. Of the 26, 23 will be funded with ERA 1 funds under the authority of Ordinance 1818-2021 and three will be funded with ERA 2 funds under this ordinance.
The selected organizations, and grant agreement amount, to receive ERA 2 funds are:
· Young Men’s Christian Association (known as YMCA of Central Ohio) $500,000.00
· The Homeless Families Foundation $500,000.00
· Somali Community Link, Inc. $500,00.00
In these contracts, at least 60% of the funding will support households with an AMI at 50% or below and/or have a member of the household who has been unemployed for 90 days; up to 40% of the funding can be used for households with an AMI at 80% or below; and 10% of the funding will be utilized for Administrative costs.
These organizations will manage a program to provide rental and utility assistance to residents in the local area who qualify for the assistance as provided in the laws regula...
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